Regular readers may recall that two years ago we wrote that "Credit Card Defaults Surge Most Since Financial Crisis." And while this deteriorating trend had more or less plateaued for much of 2018, it has taken another big step higher and as Bloomberg reports "red flags are flying in the credit-card industry after a key gauge of bad debt jumped to the highest level in almost seven years."

According to advance data from Bloomberg Intelligence, which will soon flow through to the S&P/Experian Bankcard Default Index, after staying largely flat for much of 2017 and 2018, the first three months of 2019 saw a troubling jump in the nationwide credit card charge-off, or default rate to 3.82%, the highest in seven years or since the second quarter of 2012.